Book Review: Sweet Evil, by Wendy Higgins
Spoilers alert!
Synopsis:
Embrace the Forbidden.
What is there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?
This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull towards danger, but it isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her true heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about.
If only someone had warned Anna.
Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?
Book Review:
I expected Sweet Evil to be another sappy love story with no spine to it, but a chapter in, I was like... wait, what? This book was absolutely nothing like I was expecting. Wendy Higgins showed me angels and demons in a way I had never seen before, winding in a complex maze of... demon politics? Angel/demon rivalries? that was easy to understand, but not cheesy at all.
Anna Whitt is the daughter of the demon of substance abuse, which seems a little weird to me and not as deadly and scary as the demons of Wrath, Murder, and Lust, but at the end of the book, everything fit together and made perfect sense. I was drawn in by Anna's good-girl attitude, but also her secret dark side, and fell in love with her story almost immediately.
Kaidan Rowe is the son of the demon of Lust, and Anna falls quickly for him, despite his rude demeanor and his "work," which basically includes luring girls into bed to corrupt them. Seriously, if he doesn't do it, he'll be killed by his father. Talk about romance friction. I decided to reserve judgement on his character, but I couldn't help feeling like he was a bit of a jerk and a player.
The author, Wendy Higgins, uses time lapse a lot, but in a way that didn't make me feel rushed or that I was being cheated out of information. In fact, I felt like I was reading several books, perhaps in a series, and I was seeing Anna's life as it really was, and not just some battle over a series of days. Actually, I really enjoyed the writing style of this book.
When Anna's father, the demon of substance abuse, comes to "train" her, I was expecting swords or something. Instead, he gave her drinking lessons, which was random but hilarious and fit in perfectly with the flow of the story.
What Anna and her fellow Nephilim have to do to pretend like they are working- excluding Kaidan, of course- is despicable, but I understand the reasoning behind it and learned to enjoy the subtle comic humor provided by side characters. Higgins effortlessly introduces a world of Nephilim oppression, angel prophecies, and demon politics, a world in which Anna has to find her place when she is part demon, part angel, and learn what she has to do to survive.
Sweet Evil is absolutely amazing, and all I have to say is, read it. Now. You will not be disappointed.
Five out of five stars.
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